We might have the answer to Australia’s politician problem: more of them 

Yesterday, we learned that the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) will consider the number of MPs relative to the growth of Australia’s population as part of its inquiry into the 2025 federal election. 

It’s been 40 years since Australia last expanded the parliament, when Hawke government increased the number of seats from 125 to 148. Since then, the population has grown by 11 million, without Australians getting any more MPs to represent them. 

As the number of voters per MP grows, the access any individual voter can have to their member necessarily decreases – Australia Institute polling research in 2022 found that only 15% of Australians had ever spoken to their local MP (and only 36% knew their name). 

Australia is a lot bigger and more complicated than it was fifty or a hundred years ago. In Australia’s first government, the Barton Ministry, there were 10 ministers while Albanese’s first Ministry had 30 (plus 12 assistant ministers). That leaves fewer backbenchers to do important committee work and means a smaller talent pool from which to choose government ministers. 

Expanding the lower house by 50% – to 225 seats – would bring Australia’s representation more in line with comparable democracies, as well as the states and territories. It would grow the talent pool for appointing ministers to crucial government jobs. And most importantly, it would make politicians more accountable to the communities that elect them, giving more Australians a chance to meaningfully engage with their local member. 

It’s time for our representative democracy to get a bit more representative.